We were thrilled to learn that the Amazon Conservation Association, one of the environmental groups that Smock supports, has started encouraging couples to bypass traditional wedding favors at their receptions and go eco instead. Instead of candied almonds, personalized mix CDs or other traditional less-green “keepsakes” for your guests, why not help save the Amazon rainforests (and help slow global warming) instead? For a $5 donation per guest, you can thank your loved ones with a contribution to help protect the Amazon. Couples will receive one beautiful favor card per two guests, sustainably letterpressed on our bamboo paper, to display on tables at their reception explaining how your donation has helped create a better livelihood for local communities and to help conserve the biological diversity of the Amazon basin. Because Smock wants to support the good work that ACA is doing, we donated the design and letterpress printing of the favor cards, which are based on our Engadine letterpress wedding invitations. Smock will gladly personalize these favor cards for free for those couples who have chosen Smock for their letterpress wedding invitations.

The Amazon rainforest is home to 30% of the plant and animal species on Earth and additionally, 20% of all fresh water on the planet flows through the basin’s rivers. Recognizing the importance of the Amazon rainforest to the greater ecological systems of the world as a source of countless foods, fibers and potential new medicines, the ACA works to protect these invaluable forests as they are facing increasing threats from slash and burn agriculture, wildlife poaching, mining, illegal logging, oil prospecting, and large development projects. Rainforests are also a vital force in shaping the world’s weather and climate patterns with the UN citing that 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions are related to tropical deforestation. It is estimated that at current rates, more than half of the Amazon rainforest may be destroyed or severely damaged by 2030. ACA is working together with local communities and partner organizations throughout the region to protect these precious forests.

How does your tax deductible donation help?

Your $25 donation can:

• Help a Brazil nut harvester achieve organic certification
• Plant 50 trees in a highland Andean community

Your $50 donation can:

• Help a community build a tree nursery for reforestation projects
• Help a Brazil nut harvester get legal title to the land they manage
• Sponsor an environmental education program for Peruvian schoolchildren

Your $150 donation can:

• Help protect the habitat of the giant river otter
• Support research on sustainable forest products such as natural dyes
• Fund a field expedition to study the Bolivian pampas
• Outfit a park ranger on the front lines of Amazonian conservation

Your $500 donation can:

• Train the next generation of Amazonian scientists: sponsor a Peruvian student’s research at one of our field stations
• Support clean power for Amazonian science: buy a solar panel to boost power at the Amazon’s most active research station
• Track long-term trends in Amazonian animal communities: support a month of surveys in the Los Amigos Conservation Concession

Your $1,000 donation can:

• Protect forest habitat for jaguars
• Help an indigenous community preserve its ancestral lands
• Buy a laptop for the Amazon’s most active research station, providing a young Peruvian researcher access to the Internet and online scientific literature
• Strengthen the front lines of Amazonian conservation: provide two months of salary and benefits for a park ranger at the Los Amigos Conservation Concession

You can learn more about the ACA’s environmental partners on their website and for more information about wedding favor donations and receiving your own letterpress favor cards through the ACA and Smock, contact Gena at info@amazonconservation.org.

At Smock we love getting to work with incredible shops around the country and across the globe and ecoEMPORIUM in Atlanta is just one of those shops we wish we could hang out in all day long. Owned and operated by Carol Held, ecoEMPORIUM is Atlanta’s premiere destination for all things eco, including Smock’s letterpress wedding invitations, and is dedicated to introducing “customers to earth-friendly products with style, regardless of your shade of green.” We love it!

Carol grew up in South Florida where she inherited a love for gardening, landscaping and nature from her father. As a child she remembers being cautioned by her grandfather to always turn off the faucet while brushing her teeth, because someday the world would run out of safe drinking water. It seems even in the 1950s, Carol’s family was aware of greater environmental issues. According to Carol, “I always had a feeling that my purpose in life was to help people in some way but never knew what it was and as I’ve grown older it was getting to the point that I was afraid I would never know.”

About three years ago, Carol’s husband lost his job of 23 years and set up a new home office so he could work as a consultant, about which time Carol began experiencing health issues.  After visiting several health professionals and turning to home inspection professionals, she was able to track her health problems back to the formaldehyde in her husbands new office furniture and the resulting off gassing.  For her, it was a realization that proved life changing.  As she delved into researching various toxins and their existence in numerous household products, Carol grew increasingly concerned, especially having just found out she was about to be a grandmother for the first time. Understanding that such toxins and chemicals can wreak havoc on the body and pose threats to the nervous system and even cause disease, Carol knew she had finally found her way of helping people. Many months of research went into selecting the products and companies Carol represents at ecoEMPORIUM, where she is not only shop owner, but also educator and friend.

Carol encourages friends, family and customers alike to find small ways to make a difference. Whether it be using shower timers, glass straws, opting to use filtered stainless steel water bottles instead of plastic, considering bio-degradable diapers, or even something as simple as the advice of her grandfather to turn off the water when brushing your teeth, she recognizes that everyone is capable of making a difference with simple everyday changes in their habits.

Carol makes educating the public a priority and often hosts great workshops on such topics as designing and setting up organic baby nurseries. Her latest endeavor is the creation of an eco wedding department, where she happily features Smock’s letterpress wedding invitations. We are thrilled to be among the other great products offered at ecoEMPORIUM!

As usual we just had to know more…

If you could describe your personality in letterpress, which Smock invitation would you be and why? My favorite would have to be Nevis. I’m wild about ivory and black and love the Tennyson & Hawthorne fonts With rounded corners and edge painting in blush ink, it makes it so sophisticated.  If I could get married all over again my wedding would be entirely ivory and black.  The quality of Smock is in a category all it’s own…everyone just loves the beauty and quality.

What’s your top pick destination for first time travelers to Atlanta?
Atlanta has so many wonderful things to do…but I’d have to say my favorite events are the Steeplechase, the Dogwood Festival, and the Atlanta Symphony’s Decorators Show House.  All take place in April and May during our beautiful Atlanta springtime. My top destination for a first time traveler to Atlanta would be The Aquarium, The World of Coke and the High Museum of Art. Families will love Stone Mountain Park.

Where are your favorite places to shop?
My favorite places to shop in Atlanta are the shops in the Midtown West area of Atlanta.  That’s where ecoEMPORIUM  is located. It’s an old area of Atlanta that is being rebuilt using the bricks and steel of the previous buildings.  It’s urban and chic with wonderful independent stores. Verde Home, Emily Amy Art Gallery, Ken Barber for men’s clothing and Toscano & Sons Italian Market are a few of my favorites.  Of course, for the mall shoppers..nothing beats Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza.

Thank you so much, Carol, for allowing us this amazing sneak peek into the inspiration behind ecoEMPORIUM! Also, we are thrilled to let you know that Carol is going to be sharing some great tips and insight into how you can introduce a little green into your life in the coming weeks so make sure to stop back!

Kansas City Spaces calls Smock “the write stuff.” They continue, “Let’s face it: despite the increasing popularity of e-vites and bulk e-mail “letters,” some of us still send out real letters, cards, moving notices, graduation information….and didn’t your mother teach you about responding to gifts? No e-mails please. Thankfully, to the rescue of us traditionalists comes Smock letterpress stationery, a truly gorgeous line of papers sustainbly printed on bamboo….but the best thing for you? The cards look absolutely beautiful.”

Other cool Smock mentions….

Instyle Wedding’s styleschool blog picks the Kurai letterpress wedding invitation as a “luxury green” choice.

Brides.com features Smock’s Engadine menu in a showcase of creative menu options. Brides writes: “Imagine a wind-powered stationer that uses vegetable-based inks; recycles, reuses or composts all waste; and donates to a variety of environmental causes. That’s Smock Stationary and they do all of the above plus more. As the first and only print shop to offer letterpress printing on luxurious bamboo paper, what could be better for the responsible bride and groom? Bamboo is one of the best renewable resources in the world and, as a paper, is soft, thick and textured, like a fabric.”

Other Smock blog mentions: Coochicoos features the Liony fill-in party invitations // Sprig features the Derby letterpress notecard // Paper Crave features Smock’s new line of letterpress greeting cards // Casasugar showcases our Ellie letterpress notes //Style At Home’s Natural Chic blog//Working Everyday Woman // Bella Signature Design // brönette // The Nest’s bangels & clay blog // Oh So Beautiful Paper // cardobserver //

The Rhon has been such a fun letterpress wedding invitation design to customize – we’ve printed it in blues, hot pinks, grays, and greens, and it’s made an awesome letterpress Bat Mitzvah invitation too (see all the Rhon customizations here). But we loved this idea of printing the Rhon design as a 1 color invitation (and horizontal too – cool!). All of our 2 color designs can be printed as 1 color to help keep costs down and keep the look elegantly streamlined. And our reply cards, or any of our pieces, are fully customizable to fit as much text as you need. This letterpress invitation was sent to us by our friends at Write For You in Washington DC.

Smock is in the news! In the Washington Post: Laura Weatherly, founder of Engaging Affairs, a Washington D.C. wedding planning company, named Smock as one of her favorite eco-friendly invitation lines. The Washington Post calls Smock a way to “save the date (and the planet)”. Read the full article here.
The Ladies Home Journal featured Smock’s 100% post-consumer recycled gift wrap (the Veranda design) as a way to organize your life. You can use our gift wrap to wrap gifts of course, or cover wooden magazine holders with our gift wrap patterns. Cool idea!

Also, Daily Candy describes Smock as “adorable letterpress greeting cards and invites printed on sustainable bamboo paper” in the Weekend Guide of Daily Candy.

We’ve been fans of the Nest for awhile — they’re a great nonprofit who gives micro-credit loans to women artists in developing countries, and they’re funded by products sold on their web site. And we love to donate our letterpress printing and design to causes we believe in. So we were thrilled to design and print (pro bono) these lovely letterpress cards, to help the Nest with their donation campaign (the design is based on one of our new letterpress greeting cards).


The Nest very sweetly sent us these cool travel mugs – one for every person in our print shop. The red color makes up so happy while sipping our herbal tea (or, okay, we sip coffee in them too).

Read about another pro bono letterpress printing project that we donated to the Amazon Conservation Fund. And learn more about the Nest and the good that they do here.

Here’s a great customization of our Rhon letterpress wedding invitation (check out the original Rhon here). The inks are a cool pewter and sky blue (pewter is such a great color to letterpress in!), and the san serif font really gives the invitation a modern elegance.

What a great idea to print the letterpress invitation in two terrific colors, and then letterpress the reply card in a single color. This keeps costs down and keep the invitation very, very special. This invitation was sent to us by our friends at the Write Image in Rockville, Maryland.

Want to see other Rhon customizations? Check out the Rhon save the date letterpressed in pewter (a perfect color!) and raspberry; a Rhon letterpress Bat Mitzvah invitation; the Rhon wedding invitation in pewter and grass; and the Rhon letterpress invitation in a custom neutral ink + eggplant. Rhon continues to be one of our best selling letterpress invitation designs this year!

This is one sweet and joyful letterpress invitation for a baby shower celebration! All of our wedding invitation designs can be customized to fit whatever occasion and style you have in mind — but we can also do something easily custom, like this invitation, where the client chose her favorite fonts, favorite inks (tangerine and sea mist – how cool!), and favorite pattern for the backing (Champlain!). This card came to us from Cotton Idea Studio in Laguna Beach, California.

This letterpress favor tag, a customized piece from the Kurai letterpress wedding invitation suite, is a great idea instead of the traditional candied almonds or other material gift. You make a donation to your favorite charity, then leave a sweet little keepsake card at each guest’s place informing them of the donation. Very sweet and very green too.

We are obsessed with hand edge painting (or edging) over here at Smock. Black letterpress ink, white bamboo paper, and pure blue edge painting — it’s what we dream about! We think edge painting is going to be a big trend for this upcoming wedding season — for good reason too. It’s such a elegant, classical, but cool way to add color to your letterpress wedding invitations. Also big for the upcoming wedding season: calligraphy (or calligraphy accurate fonts, like our only-available-at-Smock Spencerian font used here). Pictured below are additional letterpress pieces from our Haddington wedding invitation suite: save the dates, menus, and a letterpress wedding program cover, all printed in a rich black letterpress ink.